The city of Mountain View is poised to take a hard line in its governance of medical marijuana dispensaries.

At a study session tonight, the city council will discuss lifting a citywide ban on pot clubs and replacing it with rules that are strict in comparison to other jurisdictions. Coincidentally, the session comes a day before city officials are scheduled to go to court to try and shut down Buddy’s Cannabis Patient Collective, a dispensary that opened in April despite the ban.

Deputy City Attorney Nicole Clemens wrote in a report to the council that most cities limit dispensaries to sites that are at least 500 to 1,000 feet away from “sensitive uses,” including schools, day cares and churches. Clemens is recommending Mountain View err on the restrictive side, only permitting pot clubs in locations that are at least 1,000 feet away from those uses as well as residences.

“Maps show a 500-foot requirement could allow collectives and cooperatives in many areas of the city, while the 1,000-foot requirement would limit collectives and cooperatives to a few locations,” Clemens wrote in her report.

Clemens is also recommending that the regulations be applied to any dispensary with two or more patients, while some cities allow for smaller collectives to go unregulated.

Dispensaries would be required to apply annually for a “conditional use permit,” which could require them to submit site plans, a statement from the landlord consenting to the dispensary, and other information.

Clemens’ report also describes local crimes linked to pot. Mountain View saw a 396 percent increase in marijuana-related arrests between 2005 and 2009, according to the report. Recent crimes in Mountain View include a robbery on March 30 when two people were arrested for stealing a quarter-ounce of marijuana. In February, a St. Francis High School student allegedly had 23 marijuana lollipops and admitted selling them to other students. And on May 20, a dispensary in San Jose was robbed by four people, one of whom had a shotgun. They held employees and clients at gunpoint and stole marijuana and money, Clemens wrote in her report.

Brian David, who hopes to open a pot club called the Shoreline Wellness Collective, said dispensaries won’t lead to more crime.

“The incidents that they listed all can be avoided through proper security,” he said.

Most of the city’s proposed regulations are “fine,” he said, though he worried the limits on location are too restrictive, particularly since dispensaries would have to be 1,000 feet away from homes.

David has been considering a location at Middlefield Road and Old Middlefield Way, but it wouldn’t be allowed under the proposed regulations.

“I think it would work because there’s not going to be any signs on the side saying, ‘Hey, marijuana sold here,’ anything like that,” David said. “The only thing that will be on the building is our name, and if you don’t know what you’re doing there, you shouldn’t be there.”

Matt Lucero, who runs Buddy’s, said the city should work to craft an ordinance that is “legally enforceable” and “reasonable.”

“I think they should put reasonable limitations on the number (of dispensaries), on the locations, and have some appropriate safeguards in place, probably set and monitored by the local police department,” Lucero said.

He said he believes Mountain View can support two or three dispensaries. In the meantime, he’s preparing for the Santa Clara County Superior Court hearing Wednesday morning, when city attorney Jannie Quinn will seek a preliminary injunction to shut down his collective. Quinn has declined to comment on the case.

Lucero said if the court closes his dispensary, he will simply open another one elsewhere. He says he has more than 600 clients.

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